GOP selects Tebelius for State Chair

It's an interesting choice, to be sure. Here are more details from the AP:

With 113 of 117 state committee members voting, Tebelius received a majority of votes to defeat the party's current vice chairwoman Fredi Simpson of Wenatchee. Tebelius succeeds former party chairman Chris Vance, who earlier this month announced his resignation to pursue a better paying job in the private sector.

Details of the vote were not being released to the public, spokesman Brad Harwood said Saturday evening.

Tebelius of Bellevue has served as a Republican National committeewoman for five years. She ran for Congress in 2004 and lost to U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert in the primary. She has been an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. attorney's office in Seattle since 1986.

Simpson was endorsed by former gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, Attorney General Rob McKenna, U.S. Reps. Doc Hastings and Reichert, and former party chairman Dale Forman.

As the article notes, the Republicans have kept fairly quiet about the voting process at their committee meeting, and that's about all the details that are known at this point. We'll see how Tebelius does as GOP chair.

UPDATE: Richard Pope left this question in the comment thread: "Gee, Andrew, you got the results of the GOP election a little over an hour BEFORE Stefan Sharkansky did. How did YOU manage the scoop?"

How did I? Well, as you might guess, there were journalists representing traditional media outlets at the state Democratic committee meeting who were there to observe and report on what happened (and who won). I (and many other Democrats) heard the news that Tebelius had been elected from a journalist. I subsequently posted that news here from my mobile phone, and added the update from the AP later.

So yes...I suppose I "scooped" Stefan Sharkansky.